The Hearts of Men
by Yawping Stance
Summary: ONESHOT. The Council of Elrond having ajourned, Legolas sits on the bank of a river and is surprised to find that Elrohir, Elrond's son, feels that men are too weak to resist the temptation of the Ring. More inside, R&R. COMPLETE.


**Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I aspire to own Lord of the Rings or any of its characters... So call off your lawyers or your favorite childhood stuffed animal gets it!!**

A/N: So for a final project in my philosophy class, we had to choose a philosopher or philosophic quandry we'd been exploring earlier in the year and somehow tie it in to Lord of the Rings (essay, short movie, etc.). I chose fanfiction. The topic: is the true nature of men basically good or basically evil?

The Hearts of Men

"A last alliance of men and elves it is to be, then?" Elrohir son of Elrond set down his book as Legolas joined him on a soft patch of turf by the river. The latter laid down on his back and closed his eyes, grateful for the sun. Mirkwood's thick canopy of leaves didn't allow such a golden glow.

"Men and elves...and hobbits...and dwarves...Not really all that heroic sounding, is it?" he answered without opening his eyes.

"The dwarf joined purely for political reasons, you know that." Legolas sighed and rubbed his face.

"Don't remind me. Eru knows how long I'll be stuck on a journey with Aulë's _pet_." He spat out the word "pet" with a look of disgust. His nose wrinkled as if he could still smell the offensive odor of forge ash and dried sweat which radiated from Gimli.

"I'm more worried about the man than the dwarf," Elrohir confessed. Legolas squinted an eye open against the sun and looked at his friend.

"Aragorn is an elf-friend and I have known him for many years. He is a good man."

"It is not Isildur's heir about whom I worry, but rather his rival for the throne of Gondor." Legolas pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Boromir?" The dark-haired elf inclined his head.

"I have heard tales of his father Denethor, who jealously guards Gondor's stewardship, and that Boromir is just like him. Aragorn is a rare human, Legolas. His heart is not so impure as that of most others. Boromir is nothing extraordinary, you'll see; he'll fall into darkness and try to take the ring."

"Forgive me, Elrohir, but I have difficulty believing you. I do not believe that men are so easily corrupted as you say." Legolas lowered himself back down and put his hands back behind his head, closing his eyes again as if that settled the matter.

"And forgive _me_, _Thranduilion_, but I believe that you are too optimistic about men. Their hearts know naught but darkness and greed. That is how the Nine fell, is it not?"

"You generalize, _Elrondion_," Legolas returned the teasing formality. "Men of Gondor would take the ring, perhaps, but I do not believe that Aragorn is the only man who would not try to take it. Show it to a man of Rohan or of Bree. They would not take it." Elrohir let slip a snort of derision.

"They would think it a pretty trinket and try to put it on."

"A man of Bree, perhaps, but not of Rohan. The Rohirrim are much better connected with the world and have heard of such evils as the One Ring. And explain to a man of Bree that it is evil and he would avoid it with the fear of Eru in his heart."

"You know this?"

"No," he admitted with a shrug, "but I believe it even if I do not know it." Elrohir shook his head and leaned back against the giant oak behind him.

"I think you're being a little bit foolish, my friend."

"Think it all you want, I'm telling you it will happen. Most men and hobbits will have resisted the temptation of the ring."

"What do haflings have to do with it?" Legolas raised an eyebrow.

"The ring-bearer is a halfling!"

"Alright, other than the ring-bearer. Those other three hobbits, I don't think are as strong as we give them credit for." Legolas sniffed.

"_I_ think they are. And if they aren't, it's a good thing that Frodo has the ring then, isn't it?" Elrohir pursed his lips.

"Flippancy isn't appreciated, Legolas."

"I just think you're being too cynical on a foundation of absolutely nothing, that's all. I choose to believe that men in their hearts know the right thing and will do it, that they are basically good, and hobbits are a distant relation to men. You seem to choose your father's point of view and believe that we'll all die because of the weakness of men."

"We shall see. If we do all die, however, I claim all rights to I-told-you-so."

"If we do all die, then by all means. But we won't."

"Whatever you say."

-x-

"I seem to recall a certain conversation," Legolas murmured into the ear of an elf standing near him, "that was very much doom and gloom. And here we are, celebrating a wedding." Elrohir turned and embraced Legolas.

"Legolas! You don't know the joy in my heart to see you here."

"Though that joy is probably dwarfed by the joy you feel on this day of your sister's wedding." Elrohir acquiesced the fair one's point with a nod of the head. "And I recall a certain conversation about a year ago during which you would not have foreseen this day of joy." Elrond's son pursed his lips.

"I know of which conversation you speak," was his only reply.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Legolas grinned wryly and elbowed his friend slightly.

"You know very well what. You were wrong, Elrohir. Admit it." Elrohir folded his arms.

"Wrong about what, pray tell?"

"The hearts of men are not so easily corrupted as you think."

"Ah, but they are. Boromir tried to take the ring from Frodo and fell; Denethor wanted the ring to be brought to Gondor for their use. Gollum killed once and tried to kill again for the ring."

"But Aragorn refused the ring when it was outright offered to him by Frodo."

"Did I or did I not say that I did not think Aragorn would fall to corruption?"

"You did. But Samwise also spent a great deal of time around the ring and stayed focused on trying to destroy it. I've heard that at one point he carried Frodo up Mount Doom to destroy the ring, even when it seemed that all hope was lost."

"Samwise Gamgee, although courageous and loyal, seems to be lacking in intellect."

"So unintelligent beings are the only ones who are incorruptible?" Elrohir shrugged.

"In so many words." Legolas thought for a moment and chose his next words carefully, aiming not to bruise his friend's ego but to make him realize that such sweeping generalizations could not be made.

"So...Aragorn is unintelligent and you are corruptible?" The half-elven gaped, his mouth opening and closing a few times like a fish. Legolas smiled. "One of your tragic flaws, my friend, is that you generalize too much. And if you wish to speak of _actual_ ring bearers rather than those who only came in contact with the ring, I'll mention young Frodo himself. He bore the ring, wore it around his neck, for a year. Yet he had the will to destroy that thing which has poisoned the minds of so many others far greater and wiser than he. But he is not unintelligent, nor has he anything truly remarkable about him other than his strength of character."

Elrohir stared for a minute at the Sylvan elf, trying to think of a counter-argument. There was none. Frodo was no one out of the ordinary, neither was Sam. Yet those two little hobbits had left their homes and carried the fate of the world across Middle Earth to cast it into the fires of Mount Doom. It would have been so much easier for the halflings to refuse, to give it to someone else who was willing to take the ring, or to just give up...Yet they had stayed the course. Legolas, after the long pause, smiled, knowing he had won.

"Say it, then."

"Say what?"

"That I was right. You were wrong, the true nature of man is not so easily corrupted. Say it."

"You've spent too much time with the dwarf," Elrohir mumbled. Legolas's face darkened a bit, but he decided to choose another time to inform Elrohir of the truce and, indeed, friendship to which he and Gimli had arrived during the course of this quest.

"Say--"

"Will you not have a dance with your own sister?" Arwen tugged at Elrohir's hand, interrupting their conversation. The latter looked to Legolas, who nodded.

"Go on then. This is a time for joy, not for squabbling. Dance!" Legolas pushed his friend out into the body of revelers and watched him be swept away, content in the knowledge that he had been right all along.

* * *

So, philisophically crap and fanfictionally decent? Conversley, philisophically reasonable and fanfictionally trash? Or merit (or lack of) in both areas? Tell me! ;)


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